What causes of autism? Researchers have blamed vaccines, hereditary factors, and certain heavy metals. And now they're adding another suspect to the list: Air pollution. That's right. A new study shows that children in families who live near freeways are twice as likely to have autism as kids who live off the beaten path. Researchers in Los Angeles looked at 304 children with autism and 259 normally developing children and found that those whose moms were living within 1,000 feet of a freeway when they gave birth had a increased risk for autism. The study was published online in...

Glenn Beck had Luke Tait, the college student who took the infamous video of the TSA agent doing a pat down of the shirtless little boy, on his show this morning to discuss the incident at the airport. During the interview, Beck said that he learned from a ‘refounder’ (Congressional insider) that the little boy didn’t actually set off the metal detectors as the TSA reported, but rather the boy had on a baggy shirt that caught the attention of the TSA and thats why they wanted to do a pat down. Beck said he also learned a detail that...

ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2010) — Dogs may not only be man's best friend, they may also have a special role in the lives of children with special needs. According to a new Université de Montreal study, specifically trained service dogs can help reduce the anxiety and enhance the socialization skills of children with Autism Syndrome Disorders (ASDs).

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Administrators at a Florida school said a teacher who bit a severely autistic 6-year-old boy on the arm will not be allowed back. Nat Harrington, public information officer with Palm Beach County Schools, said the events leading up to the incident were unclear but two other teachers at Belvedere Elementary in West Palm Beach saw the substitute bite the student on the arm, WPTV, West Palm Beach, reported Friday. The man was told by the principal that he would not be allowed back inside the school, officials said.

Ray Hart, an 11-year-old West Prairie South Elementary student, works on an iPad. An education app, “abcPocketPhonics,” has helped Ray improve his writing. On a recent Monday morning at West Prairie South Elementary in Colchester, Ill., Ray Hart, 11, used a stylus to trace a small “t” on an iPad screen. After he successfully traced the letter, the tablet computer made a cheering sound. Ray looked up at his teacher, Lori Thompson, and smiled. Working on the iPad, which was released by Apple in April, has helped Hart dramatically improve his handwriting and boost his confidence. “The first time I...

<p>Saiqa Akhter, 30, has been charged with a single count of capital murder in the deaths of her 2-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son, police said. Dallas County Police spokeswoman Jamille Bradfield said the single count covered a child under 5 and would probably be changed either to include multiple victims or to add a count.</p>

An Irving mother accused of strangling her two children with an antenna wire told a 911 operator that she killed them because they were "not normal." "Both are autistic," she said. "I don’t want my kids to be like that. I want normal kids." Saiqa Akhter, 30, was arraigned this morning on a single charge of capital murder in the death of her 5-year-old son Zain, who died Monday. Family members have said the boy was autistic and had a speech impediment.

DALLAS (AP) - A suburban Dallas mother accused of strangling her two young children told a 911 operator she killed them because they were autistic and she wanted "normal kids," according to a 911 tape. Irving police released the recording Wednesday after Saiqa Akhter was charged with one count of capital murder in the strangling of her 5-year-old son, Zain Akhter, at the family's apartment Monday night. Police spokesman David Tull said another capital murder charge is pending in the slaying of her 2-year-old daughter, Faryaal Akhter, who died Tuesday night.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- The parents of an 8-year-old autistic girl who was arrested at her northern Idaho elementary school are suing the school district and the sheriff's department, saying the agencies violated the Americans With Disabilities Act......

SHANGHAI (Hollywood Reporter) - Action hero Jet Li gives a respectable turn as a terminally ill father grooming his autistic son to survive on his own in "Ocean Heaven" -- a decent, if orthodox job by Xue Xiaolu. Film Xue off-sets some of the wholesome soppiness of this genre by keeping the tone light, the story simple and steered clear of grueling ordeals. Compared with another father-son story "Together," which she co-scripted and Chen Kaige directed, it is less melodramatic and artificial. Set mostly in a marine park in Qingtao province, its interpretation of autism owes less to "Rain Man"...

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An international consortium of researchers working under the auspices of Autism Speaks, the world’s largest autism science and advocacy organization, has announced new genetic discoveries from the second phase of its collaborative study: the Autism Genome Project. The results were published June 10, 2010, in the journal Nature, one of the world’s most respected peer-reviewed scientific publications. The Autism Genome Project (AGP) (www.autismgenome.org) consists of 120 scientists from more than 60 institutions representing 11 countries. Included in the consortium were scientists from Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Stanford University. Joachim Hallmayer, M.D., associate professor of Psychiatry, and...

Autism Genome Project Phase 2 results published in Nature Mount Sinai researchers and the Autism Genome Project Consortium (AGP) announced today that they have identified new autism susceptibility genes that may lead to the development of new treatment approaches. These genes, which include SHANK2, SYNGAP1, DLGAP2 and the X-linked DDX53–PTCHD1 locus, primarily belong to synapse-related pathways, while others are involved in cellular proliferation, projection and motility, and intracellular signaling. The findings were published today in Nature by researchers at the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, together with an international consortium of researchers...

MUMBAI: New research by a team of Bangalore-based scientists has given hope to those with emotional problems caused by the inheritance of a fragile X chromosome. The researchers, for the first time in the world, mapped defective connections between nerve cells in the emotional hub of the brain of mice who had Fragile X Syndrome. The research has just been published in the online edition of the US-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In humans, while a fragile X chromosome may be passed from one generation to the next with no debilitating effects, the syndrome does affect one...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A controversial study into the possible link between the use of cells form babies victimized by abortions in vaccines and an increase in autism rates was presented late last month to the International Meeting for Autism Research in Philadelphia. Dr. Theresa Deisher, the founder and lead scientist of the Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute (SCPI), which conducted the study, presented the paper touching on the apparent link found in childhood immunizations with Autism and Austim Spectrum Disorder.The study, which Deisher said was "met with both shock and gratitude," focused on "improper integration of the residual DNA...

Amity Regional School District officials say it just doesn’t make sense: Why is the district being punished for having too many white autistic kids? And it’s the federal government’s punishment that is raising tempers — cutting the crucial funding used to educate the autistic students. It’s a thorny issue for all sides. When one racial group — black, white or otherwise — appears to be getting a disproportionate amount of special education funding, red flags go up at the federal Department of Education. But local educators said they are powerless to control the racial makeup of their community and who...

Clifford Grevemberg doesn't want to go to jail. On Friday night, the lanky 18-year-old was arrested by Tybee police on a disorderly conduct charge in front of the Rock House on 16th Street. He says he was Tased twice and thrown to the ground, breaking one of his front teeth and leaving scrapes on his face and knee. But Grevemberg, who suffers from a form of autism, still wants to know what he did wrong. "I just wanted to go to sleep," the 6-foot-9-inch tall, 170-pound teenager said Saturday. "I sat down on the curb and put my head in...

A gastroenterologist who persuaded millions of parents worldwide that the vaccine used to prevent measles, mumps and rubella might cause autism has been banned from practicing medicine in his native Britain after the country's top medical group said Monday he conducted his research unethically. Dr. Andrew Wakefield was the first researcher to publish a peer-reviewed study suggesting a connection between autism, inflammatory bowel disease and the MMR vaccine. In February, Britain's leading medical journal, "The Lancet, "retracted Wakefield's controversial 1998 study just days after Wakefield was found guilty by a British panel of acting unethically in his research on autism....

LONDON (AP) - Britain's top medical group on Monday banned a doctor whose research suggesting a link between a common vaccine and autism caused millions of parents worldwide to abandon the shot for measles, mumps and rubella. Dr. Andrew Wakefield was the first to publish peer-reviewed research suggesting such a connection, even though the study was later widely discredited. The ruling by Britain's General Medical Council found him guilty of serious professional misconduct. Wakefield, 53, then moved to the U.S. and set up an autism center in Texas, where he has a wide following, but faces similar skepticism from the...

The doctor who first suggested a link between MMR vaccinations and autism is to be struck off the medical register. The General Medical Council found Dr Andrew Wakefield guilty of serious professional misconduct over the way he carried out his controversial research.

May 17, 2010 Mother Charged With Murdering Autistic Boy, 11, At Airport Hotel Judith Evans A mother was charged today with murdering her autistic 11-year-old son at an airport hotel in Wales. Yvonne Freaney, 48, of Penarth, was arrested after police found her with her dead son, holding his hand, at Glen at the Sky Plaza Hotel on Saturday. Glen had last been seen alive on Thursday. Police believe that Mrs Freaney had spent the interim in the hotel room with her son’s body. South Wales Police said that Glen’s friends and family had contacted them on Saturday, concerned about...